So I survived Christmas time yet again. Pretty slow overall which was nice but I still hate being sick. Now gotta worry about New Year's eve and then things will settle back down.

Complaint: I know Chicago is known as the "windy" city, but I think we beat them hands down. At least it's a chinook here with more cold weather due next week. Ugh.

New favorite song: Flo Rida - Right Round (Thanks to DJ Toxyk ) :o)

So my favorite NBA team is the Miami Heat. And there is a reason why I like one of their stars, Dwayne Wade. This is an article from a Miami paper.

MIAMI - When Dwyane Wade heard the plight of a South Florida woman whose nephew accidentally burned down her home - and ruined all the family's possessions - the Miami Heat star knew he had to do something.

So he replaced the house.

Wade presented Dawn Smith with the ultimate Christmas gift on Wednesday - the keys to a new home, along with some furnishings, clothing and gifts to make sure her family has a joyous holiday, something that didn't seem likely just a few weeks ago.

Just goes to show that there are some great athletes still left in this world who care more for others than themselves.

Merry Christmas !! Christmas eve went to my friend Gerry's place. Had a few rum and cokes and then got called into work. Seems there was some miscommunication between me and Chris from the Blarney Stone whether I was to work on not. So I left Gerry's to go to work. Truthfully, had they promoted the fact we were open, we might have been busier. But whatever. The whole 40 people I think enjoyed it and I even had some people dancing.

Today I'm going to mom's for a delicious dinner and to visit with my brother from Calgary. I think I'll go to Gerry's again tonight and have a few more rums. :) Got a stupid cold and figure that a beverage or two might help kill it.

I also sent out texts to people wishing them a merry Christmas. I had a few people text me back saying that they didn't know who it was from, which means I get to delete the older entries in my phone. Ah the wonderous age of text messaging.

So, I had an eye-opening experience the other day. Me and Opi were at Denny's after work on Sunday, and a native gentleman sitting behind us was busy doing a puzzle or something, quite absorbed in his task. We thought nothing of it. After about 15-20 minutes, he left. Again we thought nothing of the sort, as he was a customer leaving after this meal. When we left to pay our tab, we found out that he had paid for ours as well. A total stranger around Christmas time, paid for our food. Kind of gives you that warm fuzzy feeling that there might be SOME good left in this world. To the fine gentleman who went out of his way to do an act of kindness, I say Thank you and Merry Christmas.

It's weird. I like listening to non-traditional Christmas music around this time. I still enjoy the classics like White Christmas by Bing Crosby, Little Drummer Boy by David Bowie and Bing Crosby and even some classic Boney M Christmas stuff. However I really do enjoy the fact some artists create Christmas/Winter albums. One in particular is the new Enya album. A good album to curl up to and just listen and enjoy, and not have to worry about going outside. :)

Current favorite song: Enya - Trains and Winter Rains

Really starting to hate winter. Cold as heck and no signs of letting up. One more week of it and it's supposed to warm up by Christmas day.

Question: Why do people even have cell phones? I mean text messaging has pretty much taken over and people hardly even talk to other people anymore. If you wanna break up with your gf or bf, send em a text, right?

Well it's been a while, but a few things significant have happened. But before I get to these, got myself a space heater because I didn't wanna freeze my ass off like last year when I moved in here. (Note to Tara if you ever read this, fix your heat !!) The temperature dipped n the negatives again with a wind chill of -35 on Monday. Best investment EVER !!! The little unit puts out incredible heat and my room is a comfy 80 degrees F or whatever I choose it to be. Below is a picture of it. :) It's got temperature control, keeps the ambient temperature to whatever I'd like, a fan if it gets too hot, remote control, different power output (either 900W or 1200W). Yep, and only for $70 as well.



Now to the significant stuff. Suede is officially closed for business. 1 year and 3 months. Saturday the 13th of December was the last night. Makes me really sad but mostly mad. Too bad we didn't have responsible bar owners. Alas....

Monday was the Studio 54 Christmas Party. Had a lot of fun and experienced a side to Josh and Vince afterwards at their place in their drunken stupor. Hee Hee Hee. Blarney Stone on Wednesday was chaotic, as most students were done exams. Fantastic party atmosphere and me and Opi rocked to the extreme.

So I seem to have this weekend off now since Suede is closed. Not sure what I'm gonna do but just gonna chill I figure. Also on that note, I've had an offer to go work somewhere else already. Just when you try and get out, they pull you back in.

Complaint: Why do people drive like idiots around christmas and when there's snow on the ground?? I can't stand it. When I wave you to go because I'm feeling friendly, doesn't mean to just sit there and look at me like I'm an idiot. I'm being nice and courteous because I can be.

Praise: I really hate Christmas shopping by I must praise Wal-mart for being open 24 hours for the month of December. I'm gonna do my shopping at 4AM when I get off work because that's my usual hours of operation. And so many LESS people. Oh how I love the night time life!! :)

Well finally got the vehicle situation sorted out. It's not a brand new one but hey it runs and at a price of $600.00, it'll do. And the house thing might finally be sorted out too. Sort of looks like my roommate Tara isn't moving out East like before. We'll see what's up in a week or two about that. Old man winter is coming again, but this time it ain't gonna be pretty. Still sitting at about -3 ish or so but this weekend is supposed to dip to -27 and early next week, with the wind chill, gonna be about -32. BAH !!! I really do need to move somewhere like Australia where their winters are in the single digits ABOVE zero.

So how's this for unfortunate luck... Just when things seem to be going good for me, something happens and my luck turns around. I heard today from an inside source that Suede is closing the doors after New Years. Which means now I'll have to find another job to cover the $1200 I won't be getting anymore. I think it's time that I get out of the industry, and get another career and also focus on my business. No Fate But What We Make....

Monday. Ugh. Was SO sick. 24 hr. flu. When I awoke, there was even snow on the ground and finally winter had kicked in. Not overly cold mind you, about -8 or so. Was still feeling a bit ill from the the flu so I went to bed earlier. The week has been pretty much uneventful. Doing a Christmas party for Instaloans tonight which I hope goes well. Ok so winter has not officially arrived yet. I thought the snow and colder temperatures early in the week was the start. NOT !! It' windy today but about 8 C or so. It's December 6th. Incredible....

Not to self: It's time to stop relying on others. Get help sure if you need it, but otherwise run your own course.

Well, another weekend done and another begins. Was pretty relaxed though. Wednesday was busy at Blarney. Thursday I didn't work at Studio 54. Instead I was at Suede covering for Opi for Ladies Night, or more specifically the Canadian Playboyz male strippers. Now believe it or not, they put on quite a good show, but from my end of it, VERY high maintenance. Had to keep changing lights and color, play their dvd and audio tracks as well. And what did I get for my troubles? $20 bucks. You gotta be kidding me. Oh well.

Friday was another slow night from my perspective. Helix and Double Jack played. Talk about young meets old. I think Double Jack played for about an hour and a bit, and Helix played for about an hour. Gimme an R-O-C-K....

Saturday night I did a wedding out in Coalhurst for Shad. It was an emergency as Tommy from Sound Explosion cancelled. Surprise surprise. Anyways, I thought it went well for the amount of people there. I found out later that about half of them were of Mormon religion. So not a lot of partiers for sure.

Sunday at the Stone was average but still a weird crowd.

So, something struck my curiosity. Isn't the whole point of advertising, to get patrons to your establishment? So why would a local restaurant, put up advertising on a bus stop, 40 feet from their doors? I can just imagine someone reading it and saying, "Boy I'd like to go there for some food", looking up and then saying, "WOW, it's right here !!!" No s--t sherlock !!!